How Deep Is Your Love
by Capie
Summary: On a summer evening, Sakura runs into Syaoran after a year from strained relationship--Sakura falls for someone else, Li mourns over the loss of his mother. A little conclusion for the Hana-Matte series. Dedicated to those who encouraged me to continue


This story is dedicated especially to  
Kita   
Who encouraged me to continue writing.  
  
Additionally, this story is for all those who read and reviewed Chocolates daily.  
I made you wait a whole week for that last chapter, so I'm making it up by giving you this story.  
  
Admittedly, I decided to write this after I heard "How Deep Is Your Love" for about the n-th time. For some odd reason, I just hate, songfics so I decided to write this story based on how I feel when I listen to the song.  
  
"How Deep Is Your Love" is by Bee Gees. Is my age revealing? Hope not! I am DEFINITELY not so old that I remember Saturday Night Fever in theatres. In fact, that movie came out WAY before my parents even knew each other! I'm just one of those who have musical preferences out of this generation (like oldies).  
  
Of course, I listen to today's popular music too, (and anime music no doubt!) but to a lesser extent.  
  
Oh yes, if you want to, you can take this as a sequel/ending to Hana and Matte. It actually flows along…like a happy ending. (For those who missed out on those stories—they're posted here by the way, please read and review—Li leaves Sakura when his mother dies and Sakura's hanyaan is making her fall in love with someone else.)  
  
How Deep is Your Love  
  
Comments are always welcomed at smilie_smilie@hotmail.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or the general Card Captor Sakura story. It's the property of Clamp. This story is written as a past time. No copyright infringement intended.  
  
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A pinkish glow washed over the sky as it slowly dimmed over the evening hours to reveal the orange sunset. The hot summer sun was sinking gently into the horizon as its remaining sunlight shimmered through the think layers of tree leaves. A gentle breeze blew by as it whistled in the air in quaint suburban town of Tomoeda, Japan just outside the busy city, Tokyo.   
  
Famous for the many flowers that bloom here, from lines of cherry blossom trees to Nadeshiko flowers, Tomoeda was the perfect town for quiet candlelight evenings. Of course, a long time ago, Tomoeda nights were dangerous with magical forces loose; however, it was long over, and a capable Kinomoto Sakura had kept everything in check.  
  
The energetic Kinomoto Sakura. She was always surrounded by friends, and her genuine cheeriness would rub off of her to everyone around her. No one could resist her radiant personality. Everyone loved her in some way or another, and she loved them in return too, dearly and sincerely. However, her heart, and her most tender feelings belonged to only one person, Li Syaoran.  
  
When she had been just a child, she could never imagine herself falling in love with him. When she first met him, he scared and intimidated her. She spent most of her days trying hard to avoid him, or trying not to stumble so he would not chide and pick at her. Then, somewhere along the way, he had stopped being so critical of her, and she had eased to him. She could not even remember where they had ended as enemies and began to be friends. In fact, she did not even remember when she had subconsciously stopped liking him for just a friend and developed true affections. However, she remembered clearly the transition from the friendship stage to the relationship stage.  
  
He started first, with his confession in the park. She avoided him after, and when she learned that he was leaving, she was forced to think hard, sort through her feelings, and answer.   
  
And she barely had time to confess her own feelings. She was running along the side of the bus when the words finally slipped from her lips. Words of promises exchanged and vows made as he disappeared along with the bus into the horizon. She remembered him as a child when he first walked out of her life, his hand still holding that bear she made for him gently.  
  
He came back, some years later. Taller, matured, and well built, he stood in that same park again, still holding the teddy bear. Sakura could not remember a happier moment in her life.  
  
Then he left again. Just as quickly as he did the first time, he packed up, left Japan, and never turned back. His mother had passed away, and it was his duty to return home and spend time in the mourning process. Sakura had no right to stop him, but what bothered her the most was how he let her go. It was gentle, yet painful. He explained his situation, told her he loved her, and then told her not to wait for his return.   
  
Of course, there were other issues. Always being so close to him made her take the situation for granted—she took him for granted. Thinking that they would forever remain together no matter what, she let her guard down and let their relationship fall. She knew that he loved her deeply so that he would never leave her, so she never paid much attention to the relationship as it slowly deteriorated.  
  
Sakura had met a new classmate sometime in her high school years. A perfect charmer, he instantly triggered a part of Sakura that she simply could not control. She would blush around him and gaze with longing at him. Li, of course, was entirely furious with this development, but he never once complained. This new boy made Sakura happy, so who was he to stand in the way. Li was never very confrontational particularly to friends of Sakura's. After all, all Li wanted was to make Sakura happy, and it did not really matter what he did. However, Sakura wanted Li to stop her, and pull her back. When she had hit hanyaan, she had lost control. In fact, she even wanted Li to be angry with her, force herself to come to her own senses. But Li could never do that. No matter what, Li could never be angry with her. He loved her too much that as long as she was smiling, he would not even complain, not even if he was losing her.  
  
Sakura had long resolved that her hanyaans were wrong. Li's second departure was like cold water to her senses. Snapping her awake from her dream world where everything would go her way, Sakura finally realized she had to make a decision and take a stance. She had been confused initially, unsure of what her true feelings were. But as soon as she compared her relationship with Li and her new friend, it was clear who she wanted. Li Syaoran was the one she loved most from the start, and her new friend, well, he would always be just a friend.   
  
That revelation came all too late. Now Sakura was alone. She kept her relationship with her new friend on tight reigns, refusing to let her uncontrollable desires rule her. She resolved to wait, no matter what, for her first love to return. She even wrote him a note, though he never replied. For a while, she had been disheartened, thinking that he had already given up. At the deepest and darkest moments of depression, when all hope seemed lost, all she had to do was pick up that bear he had left for her those many years ago and her heart would find new determination. He came back for her once, and she was confident he would come back again. As long as she waited, he would always come back.  
  
A part of her always knew their destinies were wound together. False hope? No, Sakura was certain about this. Her intuition told her so, and her intuition was seldom wrong. She was more certain about her relationship with Li more than she had been for anything in her life. If she simply laid back and waited, their destinies will lead him back to her. Then they would try again, rebuild from the start a shattered broken relationship, and find new stronger bonds.  
  
Sakura walked across the park, the same path she took every day for her daily stroll. Her hair tied in its usual pigtails with red ribbons, her slender shoulders wrapped in a pink short-sleeve knit sweater, and a pale yellow skirt wrapped around her legs. Her sparkling green eyes gazed into the distance mentally mapping her route to go home from the park. She would enter from the back, work her way to the centre where the Penguin Slide was, then a bit more to where a swing set was. The swing set had always been her favorite spot. It was the place where she sorted her feelings and shared her most intimate thoughts with friends. Sakura had shed many tears on that swing set: for friends put in danger because of her magic (when her best friend, Daidouji Tomoyo had lost her voice due to magic), for feelings lost (when her first crush, Tsukishiro Yukito, had rejected her and she found herself sorting her pain with Li), and finally for realizing feelings she never thought she had (when Li had confessed his love for her and she had sat on the set replaying his confession over again in her mind). Over the years, she had grown quite fond of he spot. It had always brought a wave of sentimental feelings when she passed it. The swing set was off to the side of the slide, but none of the other playground sets were near it. The swing set stood by itself with an empty space in front of it. Brown cobblestones lined the ground under swings and the other walkways of the park.  
  
The swing set right now was empty. Sakura figured it was probably dinnertime and most of the neighbourhood children must be home. She was making her pass across the swing set when she noticed someone. Like a sepia photograph that unraveled in her memory, he was standing there. The same spot as he did those many years ago, after school, hat off held in his hands lightly, face to the ground, eyes filled with nervousness, tenderness and sadness. She remembered a cool breeze blowing by setting her skirt in ripples and his hair in waves as he began to speak slowly, calmly, determinately, those words that sent her mind back. Those words, that sent shockwaves into her world, opening up new possibilities, yet causing so much confusion and pain in their wake. Friendship? Or more than that? She had struggled long before she came to her own realization. Or she was forced to, before he left her for the first time.  
  
Li Syaoran.  
  
He was standing at the exact same spot as he did when he first confessed his feelings to her. His eyes were cast on the ground, his hands shoved in the pockets of his khaki coloured pants. The light colour contrasted with his forest green shirt. His tall and stern frame was somewhat slouched. His handsome features glowed in the backlight of the sunset. The gentle summer breeze blew by brushing in a gentle caress against his chocolate hair.  
  
Sakura stared blankly. Lost to words. Hallucination? 'No! Can't be!' her mind raced. Yet, can it? The boy across the park lifted his face from where he was gazing at the ground. He looked back up at her, his eyes mixed with emotions: sorrow, calmness, sincerity, compassion, yet undeniably, there was happiness. His lips twitched in an awkward lopsided half smile—happy to see her, yet sad knowing he had already lost her.  
  
Or had he?  
  
How deep is your love?  
  
Sakura paced slowly across towards him. Mouth dropped slightly open, her eyes remained fixated on the figure afraid if she blinked for a second, he would disappear. She stopped just a pace away form him and gazed into his eyes. Those same intense reddish brown eyes that penetrated her the first time they met, and stole her heart when he first confessed his feelings. Those eyes could speak volumes without the slightest twitch of his face, and complemented the rest of his features perfectly. Brown and red—nothing could be more soothing in a dimming orange background.  
  
The two stood for a while just gazing deep into each other's eyes. Each searching for answers to questions unasked. There was no need for speech, no need for actions; they just knew what answers they were looking for.  
  
How deep is your love?  
  
Sakura closed her eyes, a gentle smile curving onto her lips, the same smile she had reserved for him and had almost forgotten during his absence. Taking another baby step forward, she leaned her cheek onto his chest, and let herself fall into him. He lifted his arms slowly placing them around her waist as his head dipped lower to burry his own face in her hair allowing her scent washed over him. A light summer breeze blown by as it brought a budding cherry blossom into the air, and landing just in the tiny patch of ground between the two.  
  
  
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Owari!  
  
As usual, comments and criticism welcomed at smilie_smilie@hotmail.com  
  
I have come full circle... 


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